Game of a Lifetime
The danger of Golf. Flash fiction. 150 words (1-minute read)
Writers have an old saying: Life gets in the way of writing. Which it has lately. Not that I’m complaining. leading a life that interferes with writing is a good problem to have. Still… As a result, here’s a very short story that ran in the April/May 2009 issue of AlienSkin Magazine. And, since it’s so short, I added an anecdote from my own life after the story. Hope you enjoy.
GAME OF A LIFETIME
by Ray Tabler
Kublai Khan cursed vehemently as the golf ball sailed lazily left of the fairway and into the rough. The Great Khan, always a man of action, strode over to an unlucky nearby Chinese slave and broke his golf club over the slave's head.
The time traveler smiled a private little smile of triumph. He’d done it! The conqueror had been thoroughly infected with a passion for the sport of golf.
Kublai's advisors stared daggers at the man from the future and muttered among themselves.
"If only," one of the advisors whispered not so quietly, "the Great Khan were as interested in expanding his realm as in playing this new game, Europe would already be conquered."
The time traveler paused to savor the frustrated look on the advisor's face. Not only was he under par this game, the time traveler stood to make a tidy profit off of replacement golf clubs.
END
Kubla Khan is not the only one troubled by a slice. As a young man, I was a lodger in a rooming house. Another lodger worked as the assistant golf pro at a local country club. He offered to teach me to play golf. We went to the driving range, and I squared off above a ball with a borrowed club. I swung. The ball did not go down range. Instead, it sliced radically left, and ricocheted around inside the gold cart shed.
An employee, who was performance some maintenance in there came out, looking for the source of the projectile. He found it. Then he asked me to not do that again.
But he didn’t use those words.
My friend said, “Try it again.”
I swung. The ball ricocheted around inside the gold cart shed.
The employee came out, and asked me to leave the golf course.
But he didn’t use those words.
My golf game has not improved since then.
Great story! And superbly short.